The present invention relates to a tape alignment mechanism for pressure-bonding two tapes fed through two independent paths with an alignment operation in a width direction, more particularly, to a tape alignment mechanism employed in a tape cassette including at least a film tape and an adhesive tape for feeding out the two tapes in an overlapped state.
In general, the mechanism of this character comprises, in the feed path of the tapes, a support member carrying both tapes and a pair of restricting elements restricting widthwise movement of the tapes to bring the tapes into alignment. The aligned tapes are pressed together by applying an external pressure to the pressure member such as a pressure roller.
When pressure-bonding the film tape and adhesive tape after alignment, it is desirable to make the width of the two tapes equal and also make the distance between the restricting elements equal to the tape width so as to improve the aligning accuracy. However, it is quite difficult to completely align the tapes because they are sent to the alignment unit along two independent paths. If there is any misalignment in the tapes in such circumstances, the actual value of width of the bonded tapes may be greater than the distance between the restricting elements. The tapes may then ride over the restricting elements to fall beyond them.
If the width of the both tapes are made smaller than the distance between the restricting elements, while the tapes will be certainly protected from falling out of the restricting elements, the adhesive surface of the adhesive tape is likely to be exposed to the film tape surface.